Pulihora

Before you start

• Soak the tamarind in 250ml hot water for 30 minutes and extract a thick, dark pulp.
• Dry-roast the fenugreek seeds until deep brown and the sesame until they pop, then powder each separately and keep aside.
• Cook the rice so the grains stay separate — 1 part rice to 1.6 parts water — and spread it on a wide tray to cool to room temperature before you dress it.

Method

1. Spread the cooked rice on a large tray, drizzle over 2 tbsp of the sesame oil and 1/2 tsp turmeric, and fork it through gently.Hot rice will break into paste when you mix it. Wait until it is barely warm.
2. Heat the remaining 4 tbsp oil in a kadhai over medium heat and fry the peanuts for 3 minutes until they turn a shade darker and smell roasted, then scoop them out.
3. Into the same oil add the chana dal and urad dal and fry 2 minutes until both are reddish-gold and crisp — they are the crunch in the finished rice.
4. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop, about 30 seconds, then the dried red chillies, green chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida.
5. Pour in the tamarind pulp with the rest of the turmeric and the salt, and bring it to a hard simmer.
6. Cook the tamarind mixture for 10 to 12 minutes, until it thickens, darkens and the oil separates and pools at the edges of the pan.The oil separating is the signal. Stop before it and the rice tastes raw and thin.
7. Stir in the jaggery and the powdered fenugreek, cook 1 minute more, then take the pan off the heat.Fenugreek powder goes in at the end. Boiled hard, it turns the whole pot bitter.
8. Pour two-thirds of the tamarind paste over the rice and fold it in with a flat spoon, lifting rather than stirring, until every grain is pale gold.
9. Scatter over the fried peanuts and the sesame powder, fold once more, and taste — add the rest of the paste if you want it sharper.
10. Cover and leave it 30 minutes before serving so the rice absorbs the dressing evenly.Pulihora is better an hour later than it is straight away.

Storage

Keeps 2 days at room temperature in a covered steel container and 4 days refrigerated. Do not reheat in a pan — let it come back to room temperature, or microwave 60 seconds with a sprinkle of water.